Bangladesh under curfew amid violent protests

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – The Bangladeshi government on Saturday enforced a curfew across the country and deployed troops amid violent protests which caused the death of at least 75 people.

The curfew was imposed late Friday night and will remain in place until Sunday morning when authorities are set to review the situation in the South Asian nation.

Broadband and mobile internet has been snapped across the nation since Thursday.

A local from outside Dhaka told Anadolu over the phone that the situation in the capital was “volatile and tense” with intermittent reports of clashes between protesters and security forces.

“Government appears not in control of the situation,” said the local, who wished to remain anonymous.

More than 2,000 people have been injured in the fighting across the country.

The South Asian nation has seen protests against the 56% quota system in public jobs surge this week, with the government closing educational institutions across Bangladesh.

Students have, however, refused to leave the college and university campuses.

Some 30% of the 56% quota in public jobs have been reserved for sons and grandsons of those who participated in Bangladesh’s war of liberation in 1971.

The government is expected to file an appeal on Sunday with the Supreme Court to reduce the quota to 20%.

On Friday, at least 30 people were killed when protesters also broke inside a jail and freed dozens of prisoners in the central district of Narsingdi, just outside of Dhaka.

Amnesty International said the rising death toll was a “shocking indictment of the absolute intolerance shown by the Bangladeshi authorities to protest and dissent.”

“The unlawful force used against protesters shows a callous disregard for the right to life and an abject failure by law enforcement officials to uphold their obligations under domestic and international human rights law,” the rights group said in a statement.

With no internet in place, the flow of information from Bangladesh has been scant.

Many Bangladeshi expats have complained that they were not able to contact their families because of the ban on internet.